Eve Of Adam And Eve
by Ace7321
Summary: A short oneshot fic for CloTi on Xmas Eve . Merry Christmas, everyone! R&R!


_A.N : This fic just pop out in my mind suddenly and I don't wanna waste it!_

_Merry Christmas, yee faithful (sexy) people. XD  
And do leave some review as my Xmas gift! :)_

**Eve of Adam And Eve**

Christmas Eve.

Tifa doesn't really hate it, nor love this kind of day. She always thought that it is this day that will probably bring the whole family together, Tifa herself, Cloud, Marlene and Denzel. A whole big family.  
But it never was and never will.

Almost every year in this day, it is Cloud's job to deliver gifts to and fro and it is the busiest day of the year. Thus, he never make it home for Christmas each year. Tifa never blame him, she knows Cloud is rather a more responsible type of person. He never dissapoints his clients and will keep them heppy. Especially these years after Cid, Yuffie, Vincent, Red, Cait Sith and even Johnny are all happily married or maybe found someone, there are no more Christmas parties.

This morning when Tifa wakes up, she notices that Cloud room is empty by just passing by it. There is no sound of the heater nor Cloud's snoring. She knows it, he's leaving again this year. Tifa quietly climbs down the stairs, unwanting to wake neither Marlene or Denzel up. First, she goes to the kitchen to prepare breakfast as always and she notices something lying on the dining table.

A Christmas card.

She picks it up and immediately knows who put it by identifying the scribbled handwriting.

_Dearest Tifa, Marlene and Denzel._

_Merry Chrismas  
Sorry, couldn't make it back tonight_

_By: Cloud_

The design of the card is also plain with few colours and that is definitely his taste. But that card is a bit special though, instead of on ordinary double folded card, there seemed to be another page within but it is sealed. Maybe Could made some mistakes and simply paste it to cover it.

Tifa smiles a bit looking at it. It may look simple, but she could tell that Cloud really mean it when he wants them to have a happy Christmas. She sets the card properly on the table and goes on with her duties.

Since it's a rather special day, Tifa decides to close the bar for today and tomorrow, just for spending some time with the kids. The bar is getting busier and busier that Tifa herself realises that she never really have time for them. Of course, Marlene and Denzel love the idea. Today, they are going to spend the day on the kitchen cooking for tonight's celebration. For the whole afternoon, there are sounds of pots clashing, burning and some cheering too. Marlene and Denzel certainly have fun to make ginger breads and candy. Although they are still children but Tifa has a very hard time handling them (She even strictly don't allow them to handle the turkey, who knows there may be some... flavorful flavor if they join in?)

It is happy. But at some interval, there are also some mood-killing questions from them, "Is Cloud coming back?" "We are gonna celebrate it on ourselves this year?"

Nevertheless, they still make it to the night for the dinner. The table look glorious with the (unspoil) turkey, vegetables, (some melted) candies and (some burnt) ginger breads.  
The dinner goes smoothly, even without Cloud. With Tifa's watch, there is no food fight between the two children.

Later, Tifa sends the children to bed herself. Kissing them each goodnight, Tifa brushes the hair of Denzel and Marlene, comforting them to sleep and silently left the room.  
She practically alone now. No one to talk to, or to do anything. Taking Cloud's card with her, she heads off to her room and sits on her bed, wandering her mind to miles away. But it constantly leads back to one place, Cloud. When she is certain that Marlene and Denzel are aslepp, she places her gifts at their bedside.

Every now and then, she will reads the card and then sets her eyes outside the window blankly. It is past midnight now, officially Christmas.

And now, she admits it, she did hate Christmas.

As if a music or whatever, a rush of relieve goes through Tifa's fibre when she hears a familliar sound outside the house, the sound of Cloud's Fenrir goes to a stop.  
She jumps down from bed and head to the front door, unbeknowst to her that she is still holding Cloud's card.  
Well, Cloud is not really surprised to see is still awake. He knows that Tifa is rather a light sleeper. As soon as he steps into the living room, he places a finger to his lips, indicating Tifa to be silent. Tifa obeys, and follows Cloud to the kids' room. He silently crept to their bedside and places his gift at their bedside.

Then, they silently go to Tifa's room, as Tifa has suggests.

Tifa sits on her bed and Cloud, the typical him, sits on the carpet floor.

"What presents do you have for the, huh?" Tifa starts off.

"I got a small replica of Buster sword for Denzel, although I bet he wants a real Buster Sword. And I get Marlene a stuffed Tonberry."

"I am surprised though, you make it back."

Brushing the back of his head, "I don't think so... I misses the dinner, doesn't it?"

"Nope, you still make it back for Christmas." Tifa smiles.

"Maybe." Then Cloud removes something from Tifa's hand.

"I can see that you still haven't remove this page."

"I thought you made a mistake."

In a slow and steady manner, Cloud removes the page from the card, "Shall I read it our for you?"

Tifa simply nods.

"I love you, Tifa."

Tifa nearly jumps when she hears it, did she just hear the right thing? Did Cloud just says that he loves her?  
Cloud can guess that Tifa is uncertain. So, he boldly goes up to her and lands a soft kiss to her lips, but parted a while later.

"What do you think?" He grins.

But Tifa captures his lips again and they continues longer than the last kiss. Parting for air once again, Tifa mumfled a reply, "I love you too."

Again, Cloud grins childishly and whispers, "I got something for you actually." And he shoves lightly a small wrapped box to her before going to the door.

"Open it only on tomorrow morning."

As told, she puts the box next to her pillow. And patiently waits for the sun to rise. As if a decade has passed, it's finally morning, but early 6 in the morning. Tifa unwraps the gift carefully, pieces by pieces and she is brandished by a small black satin box. And when she open it, there sits her dream from childhood,

A ring, with a small message,

_Will you marry me?_

She goes over to Cloud room then, but he is still fast asleep. After all, it's only 6 and he just got back yesterday so she didn't expect him to wake up not until midday.  
But she gently plants a kiss on his cheek and murmurs on his ears, "I won't tell you my answer yet, not until you ask me yourself."

As she rises to her feet, she smiles back again to the sleeping figure of Cloud, "But I guess you know my answers, right?"

'So, Christmas wasn't so bad after all...'

_A.N : Umm... as you can see, I wrote this on midnight and I am dead sleepy so please forgive the mistakes I made here and there. And I admit that nearing the ending, I wrote it on a haste so, it's quite... like, scrabbled all over._

_But still, I did finish it directly on 12.07 a.m on 25th December 2010! (GMT +8.00) Merry Christmas again, yee all faithful readers and authors and Happy New Year too! In case I didn't update on New Year!_


End file.
